2026 charitable deduction: what to tell your donors

What changed

Three changes matter for your fundraising, starting with tax year 2026. One helps donors who take the standard deduction. Two shrink the deduction for people who itemize and for C corporations.

Donors who take the standard deduction can deduct again. Up to $1,000, or $2,000 on a joint return. It counts cash gifts only, and the law sets no end date (26 U.S.C. §170(p), as amended by Public Law 119-21, 2025).

About nine in ten federal tax returns for 2023 took the standard deduction (IRS Statistics of Income, 2023). That means many of your donors have not been able to deduct a gift since 2021.

The catch for donors who do itemize

Itemizers now have a floor. They can only deduct the part of their giving that goes above 0.5% of their adjusted gross income (26 U.S.C. §170(b)(1)(I), 2025). On $200,000 of adjusted gross income, the first $1,000 of giving no longer counts.

The details depend on each donor's return, so this is the moment to send them to their own tax preparer.

What this means for your appeal

You are not a tax adviser and you should not sound like one. But you can tell people something true and useful that they may not know yet.

One sentence is enough:

That does three jobs. It gives donors a reason to give by December 31, since each year's limit covers only that year's gifts. It speaks to donors who could not deduct their gifts in recent years. And it points them somewhere qualified for anything past that.

Use it only if your nonprofit is a public charity and not a supporting organization. Churches and schools count. The next section explains.

Gifts that do not qualify

The new deduction does not cover every gift. Only money counts. Checks, card gifts and online gifts do. Stock, goods and other property do not.

Gifts to donor advised funds do not count either. Neither do gifts to supporting organizations, or to most private foundations. Check your IRS determination letter. If it calls you a supporting organization, under section 509(a)(3), this deduction does not cover gifts to you.

If you take corporate gifts

C corporations now have a floor of their own. A C corporation can only deduct giving above 1% of its taxable income, up to the 10% cap (26 U.S.C. §170(b)(2)(A), 2025). One with $100,000 of taxable income gets no deduction for its first $1,000 of gifts.

The floor does not apply to S corporations, partnerships or sole proprietors. Their gifts count on the owners' own tax returns, where the rules above for individual donors apply.

That is worth knowing before you ask. If a company says its gift no longer helps at tax time, do not guess at the math. Its accountant can tell it whether timing its gifts helps.

What to do before your year-end appeal

• Add the one-line note to your year-end appeal, your donation page and your thank-you emails.
• Flag donors who give through a C corporation. A quick call beats a surprise in April.
• Note which donors ask about taxes, so you can follow up with each one.

Donors need a record of each cash gift, such as a letter from you with the date and amount (IRS Topic no. 506). Ember Giving makes a year-end statement for each donor that lists every gift by date, with the amount of each gift of money. A tag on a donor's profile keeps a note like “asked about taxes” where you will see it. Ember is free if your budget is under $50K a year.

This is general information, not tax advice. Ember is not a tax adviser, and you do not need to be one. Send donors to their own tax preparer for anything about their taxes.

Sources: 26 U.S.C. §170, subsections (p), (b)(1)(I) and (b)(2)(A), as amended by Public Law 119-21 (2025), with its effective-date notes; IRS, Topic no. 506, Charitable contributions; IRS, Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions, section Cash Contributions; IRS Statistics of Income, Table A, All Individual Income Tax Returns, tax year 2023; IRS, Instructions for Form 1120-S (2025), Schedule K line 12a. All read 24 September 2026.